


Monsters Together

by orphan_account



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drug Addiction, F/M, Gen, Hetgen, Implied/Referenced Abortion, Vanessa has hardened and become a powerful witch, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-15 04:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7207442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His life in shambles, Victor Frankenstein flees London and encounters a mysterious woman known as the Cut-wife of Ballentree Moor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monsters Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aurilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurilly/gifts).



> betaed by trascendenza

He has no other recourse. Amidst the aftermath of Proteus' rampage of destruction, Victor's work is discovered. His workshop, his tools, even his books of poetry are confiscated by the coppers in the middle of the night. Victor, unseen by his would-be executors, flees London in the middle of the night, carrying what few possessions he's managed to save.

A train takes him towards the West Country, near his family home. Victor has seen the papers, the horrors he has been accused of in the wake of the massacre. He hears the whispers of the other passengers through a morphine-induced haze. The name Frankenstein has become a synonym for monster. If only their simple minds could understand ; Victor was only trying to create something beautiful. How could he have known that a resurrected fisherman would prove to be the greatest mass murderer London has ever known?

By the time the train arrives at its destination, Victor has run out of morphine. With no money for a carriage ride to Ballentree Moor, where his cousin has recently married the local baron, Victor makes his way across the countryside on foot, shaking and sweating.

Five miles in, he collapses in front of a tree. The world in front of him swerves and pivots in dizzying turns. Just before he loses consciousness, he sees the dark shadow of a figure approaching. Is it one of his creations, come to take him into the bosom of death? Victor closes his eyes and surrenders himself to whatever fate awaits him.

….

He awakes to the smell of cooking. A woman is standing by a fireplace, softly singing to herself. She turns as he attempts to rise from the soft bed he's lying on.

“Lie back down, you're much to weak too go scampering about. Stay where you are, I've made us supper.”

She's right, he's far too feeble to sit, let alone stand. He manages to stay awake just long enough for the woman to spoon feed him some broth, before slipping back into unconsciousness.

 

…

Victor opens his eyes, slowly waking. He hears the sound of birds chirping and sees sunlight pouring in through the windows of a small hut.

“Good morning. Did you know that you recite poetry in your sleep?”

 He startles at the sound of the voice. It's the woman from last night, only now he can see her clearly. She's younger than he thought she was, with dark hair and blue eyes that would have attracted an ordinary man. Victor however, has never had much interest in the fairer sex; science and poetry are his true loves.

“Where am I?” he asks. His voice is weak and frail from his illness.

“Safe,” the woman replies, “I found you in the woods three miles from here, Mr. Frankenstein.”

“H-how do you know my name?” he stammers.

She motions towards a table in the far corner, where the only two books he managed to save from his laboratory lie, a copy of Keats' _Poems_ and a textbook on Human Anatomy. Both are inscribed with his name on the inside cover.

“My name is Vanessa.” she says, a glint of mischief in her eyes. They call me the cut-wife. What brings you to this part of the country, Mr. Frankenstein?”

“My cousin, Elizabeth, she's to be married to Sir Geoffrey Hawkes. I was on to my way to Ballentree Manor.”

“Lord Hawkes died several weeks ago. Your cousin was lucky, he was a horrible, cruel man.”

There's a haunted look in Vanessa's eyes behind her smile.

“I don't have any of the drug you've been using, Victor,” she continues, staring at the collapsed veins in his arms, “but you'll be back on your feet in a few weeks. In the meantime, I have some errands to run.”

Victor lies in shock after the woman leaves, stunned by the news. His father and brothers have surely disinherited him, which meant Elizabeth has been his only hope. He truly has nowhere to go.

….

Vanessa claims to be a witch. Victor doesn't believe in such things, but he comes to enjoy her company as the weeks pass. She's surprisingly charming and well-educated and, after a time, Victor finds he can no longer bring himself to argue with Vanessa on the subject of her incantations and tarot cards. As to her full name and background, he can get no answer.

He learns what the word “cut-wife” means. She's an abortionist. The first time a girl arrives to procure Vanessa's services, he is asked to leave the house, although he's careful not to go past the stones that mark the entrance to the cottage. (Vanessa, in another of her ridiculous superstitions, has warned Victor to never to leave her home at night as there are “evil forces afoot.”) Afterwards, he asks to examine the fetus, but Vanessa buries it in the woods.

...

“I have to leave,” he tells her one day.

She looks up from her tarot cards with a knowing look in her eyes.

“Where will you go, Victor?”

“I don't know,” he says honestly.

Victor's family may have deserted him, but there has to be somewhere in the world where he can continue his research in anonymity.

She packs him some basic supplies and sends him on his way.

….

Nightfall is fast approaching when he stops by a nearby lake to spend the night. He's tired and exhausted from the physical exertion and quickly falls asleep.

….

He wakes up to the sound of laughter. Several cloaked women have surrounded his camp.

“Victor Frankenstein, Vanessa's pet,” says the middle one, “we've found you at last. Ms. Ives will pay a pretty price for your return.”

Just then, he hears a chanting in an unidentifiable language. The clouds grow dark as lightning pierces the sky, setting several nearby trees on fire. His would-be kidnappers run away screaming.

…

“You never meant to let me leave,” he accuses Vanessa after they have returned to the safety of her hut.

“There was never anywhere for you to go. Your picture is all over the papers.”

Victor jumps back in alarm.

“You know, you've known all this time?”

She flashes that mischievous smile at him.

“I know that you are a beautiful monster, the same as I.”

He manages to regain his composure long enough to ask one more question.

“And you? Who are you?”

“My name is Vanessa Ives. I came here two years ago looking for answers...”

…

His old life is over. Years will pass and he will stay at Vanessa's side. Someday, terrified virgin that he is, he may even go to her bed. For now, they dance around the hut to the tune of an imaginary waltz, like the balls Victor went to years before.

 


End file.
